A sperm bank in Denmark has announced it is no longer accepting
donations from blond- and red-haired men. The Cryos international sperm
bank in Aarhus said their ‘Nordic’ specimens – including 140,000 doses
from redheads – are being sold on a discount due to a lack of demand.
“We have too much sperm from men with Scandinavian features, and
relatively few customers request it, so we’re attempting to sell it at a
lower price – a sale, if you will,” Cryos director Ole Schou told
Metro.
Sperm from dark-haired, brown-eyed men sells at the normal price, Schou
added. “We sell out very quickly, and we haven’t yet managed to recruit
enough dark-haired, brown-eyed donors. Currently, we turn away all donor
candidates with blonde, dark blonde and red hair as well as blue, grey
and green eyes. Instead, we’re looking for those with dark hair and
brown eyes,” he said.
He points out that the sperm bank does not discriminate against any race
or ethnicity, he simply wants to deliver the type of sperm the
customers ask for. “We need to get better at recruiting donors of other
ethnicities right here in Denmark,” Schou said.
The surplus inventory of sperm from blond men is the result of being
headquartered in Aarhus, where male students from the nearby university
earn money by donating sperm.
A great number of Cryos’ customers live in Spain, Italy and Greece where
they are not looking for a blonde, blue-eyed addition to the family.
Cryos sells sperm to childless couples in more than 65 countries around
the world. To meet the demand of the market, Cryos has opened branches
in New York in the United States and in Mumbai, India.
Redheads fuming with sperm bank
“We have received a number of complaints from redheads from all over the
world. Some are very angry, even aggressive. They accuse us of racism.
Others argue we should keep our redheaded donors back,” tells Schou.
Schou is surprised at the backlash, and he apologizes to those who feel offended by Cryos’s actions.
“I can assure you we don’t discriminate against anyone,” he said. “We
have nothing against redheads. We’re simply trying to meet the demands
of our customers, and the demand for redheaded and blonde sperm donors
is very limited.”
These days, Cryos representatives spend a great deal of time turning
away angry redheaded donor candidates because it is a waste of
resources. It simply does not sell.
